JPH0928711A - Ultrasonic image observation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To recognize a composite ultrasonic image by relating an appearance image and an ultrasonic transmission image to each other by means of composing an transmission image of an affected part and an appearance image of the affected part so as to display the composite image. SOLUTION: A video changeover device 4 is switched over to a CCD camera 3 side by a changeover control signal S from a switching control part 8 to create an affected part image which is transferred to an image composing part 5 through a video board 7 and stored in an image data memory 11. Simultaneously, it is displayed on a CRT 6. Then, the switching control part 8 is changed over so that a video changeover device 4 is changed over to an ultrasonic transmitter-receiver part 2, to perform an ultrasonic scanning on the affected part. The transmitted image of the affected part obtained by the scanning is transferred to an image composing part 5. Simultaneously, the absolute positions of each part of the affected part of the transmitted image are measured by a transmitted light position detector 9, and their position information is subjected to a digital information processing to be inputted into the CRT 6 to be displayed. The appearance image and the transmitted image of the affected part is composed by the image composing part 5 and are stored in the image data memory 11 for being displayed on the CRT 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic image observation apparatus used for external observation of an ultrasonic image such as a bone shape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an ultrasonic bone observing device as a device for observing a bone shape. Since this device has a relatively simple device configuration and does not require an X-ray technician for its operation, it is often used in a small-scale medical office such as an osstomist.

The diagnostic image formation of this ultrasonic bone observation apparatus is
As shown in FIG. 3A, a plurality of ultrasonic cross-sectional images G 1 to _n of the affected area are created. Then, the grayscale line image P of the designated area e at the predetermined depth d position of the ultrasonic cross-sectional images G 1 to _n
It removed _{1 to n,} as shown in FIG. 3 (b), to create a planar diagnostic images Q at a given depth d position by parallel arrangement of these gray line images P _{1 to n.} Then, by displaying the diagnostic image Q created in this way, the shape of the bone (including bone abnormalities such as fractures and sprains) can be observed.

[0004]

By the way, in such an ultrasonic bone observing apparatus, in addition to the bone to be observed, muscle portions, blood vessel portions and the like are also displayed as images, so that the display site is the affected area. There is a problem in that it is difficult to understand which part corresponds to and a certain degree of skill is required to make a diagnosis based on the diagnostic image Q. Further, since it is difficult for the patient to recognize the diagnostic image, it is difficult to explain the medical condition to the patient by referring to the diagnostic image Q.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to make the appearance image and the ultrasonic transmission image relatively recognizable.

[0006]

In order to achieve such an object, in the present invention, an ultrasonic transmission image forming section for forming a transmission image of the affected area, and an appearance image forming section for forming an appearance image of the affected area, The image forming apparatus is characterized by including an image combining unit that combines the transmitted image of the affected area and the external image of the affected area, and a display unit that displays the combined image combined by the image combining unit.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment as one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic bone observing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The ultrasonic bone observing apparatus 1 includes an ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section 2 for transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from an affected area to create a transmission image of the affected area, and a CCD camera 3 for creating an external image of the affected area.
And a video switcher 4 for switching between the output of the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section 2 and the output of the CCD camera 3, and the image synthesizing section 5 for synthesizing the output of the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section 2 and the output of the CCD camera 3.
And a CRT 6 for displaying an image of the affected area, and an ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section 2
The image output of the CCD camera 6 and the image combining unit 5 and CR
A video board 7 that outputs the synthesized output that is synthesized by the image synthesis unit 5 to the CRT 6 while being output to T6, and the image synthesis unit 5.
And a transmission image position detector 9 for detecting the absolute position of the scan position of the ultrasonic wave transmitter / receiver 2. , And an A / D converter 10 for A / D converting the output of the transmission image position detector 9 and transmitting it to the image synthesizing unit 5. The image synthesizing section 5 is composed of, for example, a personal computer, and the image synthesizing section 5 further includes an image data memory 11.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic bone observing device 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the video control unit 4 is switched to the CCD camera 3 side by the switching control signal S output from the switching control unit 8, and then the CCD camera 3 creates an external image of the affected area. Then, the image signal is input to the image synthesizing unit 5 via the video board 7, stored in the image data memory 11, and output to the CRT 6 for display <FIG.
See (a)>. Furthermore, ultrasonic scan start position α'and end position β'for the external image of the affected area displayed on the CRT 6 are displayed.
The positions of and are specified, and the ultrasonic scan length L ′ and the inclination θ in the scan direction on the image are calculated from the specified start position α ′ and end position β ′, and these data are stored in the image data memory 11. Let These position specifications are
For example, it can be specified by moving a cursor provided on the screen with a mouse (not shown) or the like. Next, ultrasonic waves are transmitted / received to / from the affected area. In other words, the switching control signal S output from the switching control unit 8 switches the video switching unit 4 to the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit 2 side, and then ultrasonically scans the affected area. In the ultrasonic scanning operation, first, an operation of designating a start point α and an end point β is performed. Start and end points α, β
The instruction of, for example, the infrared irradiation mechanism to the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit 2
In addition to the above, it can be performed by designating the start and end points α and β by infrared irradiation, and can be performed by various methods.

When the designation operation of each point α and β of the start and end of the scanning operation is completed, the affected area is ultrasonically scanned from the starting point α to the ending point β, and the transmission image of the affected area obtained by the scanning is displayed on the video switching device 4 and. Input to the image composition unit 5 via the video board. At this time, the absolute position of each part of the affected area transmission image obtained by ultrasonic scanning is measured by the transmitted light position detector 9, and the position information is converted into digital information by the A / D converter 10, It is input to the image synthesizing unit 5 together with the data of the transmission image. The data of the affected area transmission image input to the image synthesizing unit 5 is output from the video boat 7 to the CRT 6 and displayed as needed <see FIG. 2 (b)>.

In the image synthesizing section 5 to which the transmitted image data of the affected area and the position information thereof are inputted, the operation of matching the display magnification and the operation of matching the display position between the transmitted image of the affected area and the external image of the affected area are performed.

The display magnification matching operation is performed as follows. That is, the distance L between the actual start point α and the end point β in the scanning operation performed by the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit 2,
The distance L'between the start point α'and the end point β'set in advance based on the appearance image of the affected area is compared to calculate the ratio of the two, and the display between the transmission image of the affected area and the appearance image of the affected area is calculated. Match the magnification. This display magnification matching operation may vary the display magnification of the diseased part transmission image based on the display magnification of the diseased part appearance image, or, conversely, display of the diseased part appearance image based on the display magnification of the diseased part transmission image. The magnification may be changed.

On the other hand, the display position matching operation is performed, for example, by an inclination θ between a start point α'and an end point β'in the affected area appearance image.
Is performed by rotating the transmission image of the affected area on the screen so that

After performing the matching operation of the display magnification and the matching operation of the display positions between the affected area transmission image and the affected area appearance image, the affected area transmission image data and the affected area appearance image data are combined. The synthesizing operation is performed by cutting out image data at a predetermined position of the appearance image of the affected area (position corresponding to the position where the affected area transmission image is created) and fitting the affected area transmission image data at that position, or both data may be overlaid. .

After the data thus synthesized is stored in the image data memory 11, the video board 7
It is output to and displayed on the CRT 6 via. The image displayed in this way is a composite of the affected area transmission image and the affected area appearance image,
The relative positional relationship between the two becomes clear, and the image can be read easily. Further, since the image can be read easily, it becomes easy to explain the medical condition to the patient with reference to the image (see FIG. 2 (c)).

Further, even if it is necessary to reexamine the medical condition of the patient at a later date, it is easy to visually understand if the combined data stored in the image data memory 11 is read and displayed on the CRT 6. Therefore, even when the diagnostician reexamines the patient's medical condition at the time when the patient's medical condition memory is weakened, an accurate judgment can be made quickly by reading the composite data and displaying it on the CRT 6. Like

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the transmitted image of the affected area and the external image of the affected area are combined, the relative positional relationship between the two becomes clear and the image can be read easily. It was Therefore, even if not an expert, the bones, muscles, blood vessels, etc. can be clearly identified, and more advanced diagnosis can be made, and it is easy to explain the medical condition to the patient by referring to the image. became.

Furthermore, if the data in which the transmission image data is embedded in the appearance image data is stored, the diagnostician may reexamine the medical condition of the patient when the patient's medical condition memory is weakened. However, if the stored combined data is read out and displayed, an accurate judgment can be made quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic bone observation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing images taken by the ultrasonic bone observing apparatus of the embodiment, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image creating method of the ultrasonic bone observing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Ultrasonic wave transceiver 3 CCD camera 5 Image synthesizer 6 CRT

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic transmission image forming unit that creates a transmission image of the affected area, an appearance image forming unit that creates an appearance image of the affected area, an image combining unit that combines the transmission image of the affected area and the appearance image of the affected area, An ultrasonic image observation apparatus comprising: a display unit that displays a combined image combined by the image combining unit.